Abstract :
Sidonius Apollinaris became bishop of the Auvergne, at Clermont Ferrand, in AD 469 after his returnto Gaul from the office of Prefect of the city of Rome. As a bishop, Sidonius continued to attach great value to the cirtue of pietas and was more open to the common people than many of his former colleagues in the lay world, and more sensitive in his desire to be of service. He resembles a kind of universal patron, in a sense the patron of the whole civitas, who acted as a grand seigneur and meted out summary justice to ordinary people in his congregation.
Being a Roman aristocrat, Sidonius appeared to maintain the aristocratic frame of mind, and being of episcopal rank, he was in a position, as one correspondent put it, to 'lavish (his) wealth upon the poor'.